Publications so far
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| 1. |  | Bernbeck, Reinhard; Hessari, Morteza; Pollock, Susan; Rol, Nolwen; Akbari, Hassan; Eger, Jana; Saeedi, Sepideh: Soundings at Three Chalcolithic Sites in the Varamin Plain, 2018. In: Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan, vol. 49, pp. 49-75, 2020, ISSN: 1434-2758. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | BibTeX)@article{nokey,The Chalcolithic period (late 5th and 4th mill. BCE) is central to an understanding of the social, economic, and political changes that led to the first states in western Asia as well as the early uses of writing and complex administrative systems in Iran and Mesopotamia at the end of that millennium. In Iran, the late 5th through the first half of the 4th mill. BCE is characterized by several broad, regionally distinct material culture patterns. They range from complex societies of the late Susiana and Uruk traditions in lowland Khuzestan to Lapui and Banesh in the Kur River Basin and surroundings and the Sialk III tradition on the central plateau. These traditions have ofen been treated as monolithic entities, with research geared towards the identification of broad similarities over large geographic areas. This has been done to the detriment of investigations of local specificities. We have no understanding yet as to how Sialk III or Banesh traditions might have found local expressions nor to what extent there existed economic, political, or cultural variability within such traditions.This pattern of regionalization gives way in the latter part of the 4th mill. to the Proto-Elamite phenomenon with its striking similarities in administrative artifacts and to some extent in mundane artifacts such as pottery. Proto-Elamite material culture, usually attributed to the Early Bronze Age, can be found across the central plateau and into the highland valleys of the Zagros as well as in the lowlands of southwestern Iran. Here, too, the pre-dominant research emphasis has rested on the ex-amination of similarities, with studies of regional differences taking the back seat until quite recently. The processes that led to the emergence of this macro-phenomenon are not well understood; further understandings of them will require investigations at both large and small scales. The project we present here aims to examine those long-term developments in the Varamin Plain, with a focus on the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age periods. We argue for the need for locally and regionally based understandings of these long-term trajectories. In this first phase of the project, we have placed our emphasis on the Sialk III period. In this paper we report on a series of brief soundings excavated in the summer of 2018 at the three Sialk III sites of Ahmadabad-e Kuzehgaran, Chaltasian South, and Ajor Pazi. Our goals for this initial work were the following: –to investigate the depth of cultural deposits at each site as well as the preservation of architecture and other remains; –to acquire organic samples with which to build a robust radiocarbon-based chronology for the Varamin Plain; –to systematically recover and document pottery in order to construct a locally based ceramic chronology that can be connected to but does not directly depend on that used for other regions (e.g., the Sialk sequence); –to systematically collect artifacts as a window into understanding economic practices; –to collect animal bones, plant remains, and soil samples as a basis for investigating subsistence practices and local environmental conditions. The study of the finds and samples is underway. Here we present summaries of the fieldwork con-ducted and the first preliminary results of our analyses. |
2020 |
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| Bernbeck, Reinhard; Hessari, Morteza; Pollock, Susan; Rol, Nolwen; Akbari, Hassan; Eger, Jana; Saeedi, Sepideh: Soundings at Three Chalcolithic Sites in the Varamin Plain, 2018. In: Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan, vol. 49, pp. 49-75, 2020, ISSN: 1434-2758. (Type: Journal Article | Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Archaeobotany, Archaeozoology, Chalcolithic, Dating, Economy, Sounding, Tehran)@article{nokey,The Chalcolithic period (late 5th and 4th mill. BCE) is central to an understanding of the social, economic, and political changes that led to the first states in western Asia as well as the early uses of writing and complex administrative systems in Iran and Mesopotamia at the end of that millennium. In Iran, the late 5th through the first half of the 4th mill. BCE is characterized by several broad, regionally distinct material culture patterns. They range from complex societies of the late Susiana and Uruk traditions in lowland Khuzestan to Lapui and Banesh in the Kur River Basin and surroundings and the Sialk III tradition on the central plateau. These traditions have ofen been treated as monolithic entities, with research geared towards the identification of broad similarities over large geographic areas. This has been done to the detriment of investigations of local specificities. We have no understanding yet as to how Sialk III or Banesh traditions might have found local expressions nor to what extent there existed economic, political, or cultural variability within such traditions.This pattern of regionalization gives way in the latter part of the 4th mill. to the Proto-Elamite phenomenon with its striking similarities in administrative artifacts and to some extent in mundane artifacts such as pottery. Proto-Elamite material culture, usually attributed to the Early Bronze Age, can be found across the central plateau and into the highland valleys of the Zagros as well as in the lowlands of southwestern Iran. Here, too, the pre-dominant research emphasis has rested on the ex-amination of similarities, with studies of regional differences taking the back seat until quite recently. The processes that led to the emergence of this macro-phenomenon are not well understood; further understandings of them will require investigations at both large and small scales. The project we present here aims to examine those long-term developments in the Varamin Plain, with a focus on the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age periods. We argue for the need for locally and regionally based understandings of these long-term trajectories. In this first phase of the project, we have placed our emphasis on the Sialk III period. In this paper we report on a series of brief soundings excavated in the summer of 2018 at the three Sialk III sites of Ahmadabad-e Kuzehgaran, Chaltasian South, and Ajor Pazi. Our goals for this initial work were the following: –to investigate the depth of cultural deposits at each site as well as the preservation of architecture and other remains; –to acquire organic samples with which to build a robust radiocarbon-based chronology for the Varamin Plain; –to systematically recover and document pottery in order to construct a locally based ceramic chronology that can be connected to but does not directly depend on that used for other regions (e.g., the Sialk sequence); –to systematically collect artifacts as a window into understanding economic practices; –to collect animal bones, plant remains, and soil samples as a basis for investigating subsistence practices and local environmental conditions. The study of the finds and samples is underway. Here we present summaries of the fieldwork con-ducted and the first preliminary results of our analyses. |